Short Summary

Police and British troops sealed off Catholic areas in Belfast on Tuesday (18 January) in a bid to recapture seven escaped IRA officers who escapade from the prison ship "Maidstone" in Belfast harbour the night before.

Description

Police and British troops sealed off Catholic areas in Belfast on Tuesday (18 January) in a bid to recapture seven escaped IRA officers who escapade from the prison ship "Maidstone" in Belfast harbour the night before.

The seven, wearing only their underpants, cut through a grill protecting a porthole, clambered out and swam several hundred yards (meters) through near-freezing water to reach the dockside where they later hi-jacked a bus.

At dawn on Tuesday, security forces began a massive house-to-house search. Soldiers broke down doors of houses which were apparently deserted and latest reports indicate that more than 600 troops are involved in the hunt, the biggest in Belfast's history.